Mar 14, 2013 | 13:38
2
A little bit of background Kathy as this is about 20
miles from where I grew up and farmed.
This has been a long running controversy. The live
firing range at Dundrennan actually fired the missiles
directly into the Solway as it is coastal. Most of the
firing range is stocked with both cattle and sheep,
friends of mine have the largest part of it.
A little further along the coast is the Luce Bay live
bombing range where the airforce has long practised
dropping bombs into the water.
But the real question here concerns Sellafield - the
nuclear reactors based on the English side of the bay.
They of course have produced depleted uranium for
decades and I'm not sure if it's ever been conclusively
been proven that this stuff hasn't been leaking.
Lots of murky stuff in them there waters.

Do you think the Scots graze their sheep on these
bases? Cattle graze on bases here in America.
And deer!

Mar 15, 2013 | 12:17
5
The incidence of scrapie in sheep in that part of
Scotland is almost non-existent. It's a thing the "old
guys" used to talk about as they saw more of it a
generation or more ago. Our family certainly never
saw a case of it in thousands of sheep over many
decades since my Grandfather started with sheep.
Saying that since BSE there was a move to eradicate
scrapie in the UK and they tested purebred sheep and
eliminated those lines carrying it. Not too familiar
with that as it has happened since I've been in
Canada.
They will graze all categories of sheep and cattle on
the bases.

The interesting thing was after Chernobyl the areas
worst affected with radiation in the sheep were in SW
Scotland and NW England (the areas both sides of the
Solway - the body of water we are talking about with
the depleted uranium. Looking at a map it makes no
sense that the drift from Chernobyl would affect the
west coast but not further east in the country. They
blamed it on the hills we had - the high granite
content of these mountains accumulated the radiation
or held onto it longer was the theory. I'm pretty sure
the true source of the high radiation readings in
sheep was Sellafield. Truth was they had never
measured radiation levels in sheep until after
Chernobyl so they had no idea of background levels.

An American neighbour we had there who was based
in England WW2 used to tell us they were not allowed
to go into Cornwall for R R on account of the high
background radiation levels.

Apr 28, 2013 | 12:17
6
A victory for the people, small but still a victory.

"MoD ends Scottish uranium shell tests

By Rob Edwards Environment Editor

Sunday 28 April 2013
THE Ministry of Defence has been stopped from
test-firing shells made of depleted uranium in
Scotland by public opposition.

Depleted-uranium shells were fired at
Dundrennan near Kirkcudbright
Defence ministers have assured MPs a planned
weapon-testing programme will use alternatives to
depleted uranium (DU).

The toxic radioactive metal, used to harden
armour-piercing tank shells, has been blamed for
cancers and birth defects suffered by soldiers and
civilians after the Iraq war.

The MoD had been expected to re-start test-firing
DU shells at the Dundrennan military range near
Kirkcudbright later this year.

Over 30 years, army tanks have fired 6700 shells
into the Solway Firth from the range, containing
nearly 30 tonnes of DU. Some shells were
misfired and contaminated the range. High levels
of DU were found in earthworms on the site.

Armed forces minister Andrew Robathan has now
said the shells "can be tested by firing variants
that do not contain DU". Defence minister Philip
Dunne has told the House of Commons testing
"does not involve the firing of depleted uranium."

Rachel Thompson from the Campaign Against
Depleted Uranium hailed the MoD's shift as a
"major victory," adding: "This U-turn is linked to
increased parliamentary and public opposition to
an environmentally dubious and potentially illegal
practice."

The MoD insisted the programme never required
the firing of DU. "This is entirely unconnected to
campaigns against test-firing," said a
spokesman."

In Vietnam fish meal is made from some kind of fishes which are dried and pureed into powder so that farmers can feed to the animals. Fish meal demand is increasing in some countries such as China, Japan.